The Sea and Poison (Umi to Dokuyaku) is a novel treating an actual incident so horrific that it seared itself indelibly into Endo's conscience-the slow- and methodical wartime vivi-section, with absolutely no anesthesia or other amelioration, of an American captive by a team of Japanese doctors. This powerful novel describes the disintegration of a Japanese doctor who is obliged to participate in the vivisection of prisoners of war. Haunted by his wartime memory and the shame of his collusion, he searches desperately for relief from his overweening guilt and for meaning in his continuing existence.